Free Me by Lark Jane

Author:Lark, Jane [Lark, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sandra Jackson aka Jane Lark
Published: 2015-09-29T07:00:00+00:00

“Dad!” He came through the door looking tired and concerned. He hadn’t wanted to go away, but his work had told him he had to go or he’d lose his new job. I’d sworn to him we’d be okay. We’d been okay.

I hugged him hard and his arm came around me, his hand settling on my back as I felt his lips smile against my ear.

“Grandpa!” Christa ran from the living room and gripped his thigh in a bear hug.

“My girls. Hello, little diamond.” He let me go and ruffled Christa’s hair, then picked her up into his arms. She gave him a full body hug like the one she’d given me this morning. She’d calmed down now; this wasn’t a desperation or a terror hug, it was purely a I-love-my-newly-discovered-grandpa hug.

He carried Christa into the kitchen. “Let’s put some coffee on, shall we? Now tell me how you've been?” He asked the question of Christa.

“I have a new doll, Grandpa.” She looked at me. “Mommy, fetch Bell.”

I lifted my eyebrows, trying to hide a smile.

“Please, Mommy.”

I turned away. I was glad to have Dad back home. I’d missed him for so many years. When I’d been a kid we’d been buddies. Mom had left when I was three, so he'd been everything to me for years, my hero.

But I’d been vulnerable.

When my hormones kicked in and boys had started hanging around he hadn’t known how to deal with his little girl growing up. I’d gotten more and more rebellious and he’d judged all the boys I’d brought home not good enough and told them to stay away.

Then I’d met Ryan. The most tempting of devils to rebel with. He’d been wild. Fun. Over the top. His presence had been… large. Extreme. I was obsessed. I’d idolized him—caught on for the ride and hung on. Stupid kid that I was.

I’d only been a kid.

I picked Bell up out of her buggy and took her back to the kitchen.

I saw everything Dad had been trying to tell me now. Then he’d just been this old ogre, holding me back and not understanding what it was like to be a girl. He’d been a middle-aged guy, trying to get through to a teenage girl, full of hormones he didn’t understand.

“That’s her, Grandpa. Here.” Christa took Bell from my hand and held her up for Dad to look at. “Rich gave her to me.”

“Rich?” One eyebrow lifted as he looked at me.

I smiled. Christa answered, “He’s Mommy’s new friend. He had sleepovers with us at the weekend.”

“Did he now?” His eyes narrowed on me.

“Dad, he’s nice.”

“Nice is it—”

“I met him on my birthday, the weekend I went out with Jo-Ann and Mel. I didn’t intend for him to meet Christa but he came over here to see me, and I like him.”

“I like him too.” Christa confirmed with a nod.

“He took Christa to the park with me and bought her the doll and a buggy, and then yesterday, he drove us out to Silver Falls.

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